WHEN SWATHI ARAVINDAN decided to enrol for an executive MBA programme online, she already had a decade of work experience across product development roles. But the B.Tech graduate from IIT Madras felt an MBA would help accelerate her career. During the pandemic period, she completed a 15-month MBA course from a foreign university offered on an online higher education (higher-ed) platform. Then she switched jobs, and is now leading a team that drives strategy and execution of a global SaaS firm’s product road map.
Aravindan isn’t alone. Like her, many flocked to online higher-ed platforms to upskill themselves during the lockdowns. Their needs were diverse. Some wanted to change jobs, some wanted to move up the ladder, while some others wanted to augment their income. During that period, universities and their faculty had to rapidly adapt to digital modes of teaching. This extraordinary surge in demand from individual users and institutes provided substantial growth momentum for online higher-ed platforms.
For instance, Ronnie Screwvala-led highered platform upGrad saw its MBA portfolio quadruple while BYJU’S-owned Great Learning witnessed a 4.5x growth for
